Cheltenham Borough Council, Gloucestershire police, Gloucestershire County Council and other agencies will be working in partnership to cope with an extra 50,000 or so people being in the town each day.

Huge crowds will gather inside the racecourse for the racing

To make sure that traffic flows smoothly in and around Cheltenham during the festival, the borough council will be working closely with the county council’s highways team. They want to ensure that traffic going to and from the festival is managed as efficiently as possible, and that any travel disruption is kept to a minimum.

Council licensing officers, supported by officers from neighbouring authorities, will focus on illegal taxi activity to ensure that unlicensed taxis do not compromise the safety of residents or visitors to the town.

Inside the Guinness Village during last year's festival

Licensing officers will also visit and inspect venues licences to sell alcohol or offer sexual entertainment to ensure these venues comply with the council’s licensing rules and conditions.

The council, in partnership with the police, will continue its operation cracking down on ticket touts.

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Councillor Andrew McKinlay (LD, Up Hatherley), the borough council’s cabinet member for development and safety, said: “We want everyone to have a safe and enjoyable time throughout the festival. Cheltenham welcomes an incredible amount of visitors to the town during race week so it remains a top priority for us to work closely with our partners to make sure everything goes smoothly.

“This year the council has even more powers to clamp down on littering, ticket touting and consumption of alcohol so our enforcement officers will be out all hours of the day and night to monitor activity and visit venues.”

Superintendent Tony Godwin, of Gloucestershire police, said: “As part of our duties, officers will be supporting Cheltenham Borough Council and the racecourse in ensuring ticket touts do not breach the dispersal order.

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“We will be issuing warnings to ticket touts who operate in the restricted areas, asking them to leave the area for 24 hours, and if appropriate issuing penalty notices. We hope this will reduce the nuisance caused to race-goers and other members of the public.

“We will also be working with partners to deliver a safe environment for those who wish to enjoy Cheltenham during the night time economy.”